Download Chrome 2.0 pre-beta

A few weeks ago, Google announced the final 1.0 version of its Google Chrome browser and its intention to sign several contracts for OEM distribution. Today, the Mountain View giant unveiled the alpha version 2.0 of Chrome reserved for developers.

Chrome 2.0 builds a new version of Webkit, the open source engine originally developed by Apple. The version used, 528.8, is now in Safari 3.1. In addition to correcting some bugs, the engine supports new CSS Properties as the gradient or canvas.

This new opus introduced several features to catch up on browsers as long as Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. For example, technology is just autocompletion couple of forms on the Internet. While it was only possible to enlarge or reduce the text of a page, zoom now applies to all elements of the page. The spell checker has received several improvements with the option to disable it by right-clicking on the field of writing. Also, the user can choose the language of the correction through the browser options.

Among other functions that are missing the call in version 1.0 of Chrome and are introduced in this version include the automatic, usually operated by clicking the middle button of the mouse. Chrome 2.0 can also create multiple profiles for use with other favorites or choose different options for managing cookies and browser history.

However, the feature most requested concerns truly support extensions to Firefox. In this respect Google introduced support GreaseMonkey script. This option is experimental.

Note that it is possible to import their favorite Google Bookmarks, that the private browsing mode has been improved or that the V8 JavaScript engine also received an update.

However, no information has been revealed about the Mac and Linux versions of the browser.

Download Google Chrome 2.0